Taif shares. Taif-NK is a successful company that continues to grow, develop and solve global problems

The TAIF group of companies, according to its official website, includes 54 companies. Of these, the majority - 29 companies - are engaged in oil and gas refining, chemistry and petrochemicals, as well as energy generation. In addition, the group includes 3 companies that specialize in investment and financial services. Another 6 produce construction materials, and 16 work in the field of telecommunications, integrated and other services. In particular, TAIF controls the television and radio company “New Age”, the online publication “Realnoe Vremya” and the business airline “Tulpar Air”.

“To promote the dynamic development of the economy of Tatarstan, improve the social sphere and ultimately the well-being of its residents, to be in the forefront of companies ensuring the progress of Tatarstan and Russia - this is the mission of TAIF PSC,” the group of companies reports on its website.

According to information on the official Internet resource, the decision to create the group was made in 1995 at a meeting in the Kazan Kremlin with the participation of the first President of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mintimer Shaimiev. The group is associated with the Shaimiev family. At the moment, his son Radik Shaimiev owns 11.97% in authorized capital open joint stock company. The company is headed by Albert Shigabutdinov, his son Ruslan Shigabutdinov works as deputy head of the holding.

TAIF is considered one of the most closed companies to the public. The group does not publish reports on the Internet, releasing data piecemeal, mainly through the media under its control. At the moment, TAIF GC has reported only on the results of the year before last. According to SPARK-Interfax, in 2015 the group increased its revenue from 83.1 billion rubles. up to 94.4 billion rubles, and net profit decreased slightly - from 10.8 billion rubles. up to 9.7 billion rubles.

Expert analyst of FINAM JSC Alexey Kalachev notes that at the end of 2015, the consolidated revenue of the TAIF group amounted to over 524 billion rubles, which is quite significant for the economy of Tatarstan.

The group’s website contains information about only four large enterprises that are part of TAIF. These are Nizhnekamskneftekhim PJSC, TAIF-NK plant, Kazanorgsintez PJSC and TGC-16 OJSC. Data on the financial results of these enterprises for 2016 are available, in contrast to the data from the Civil Code. Let us add that back in 2009, Forbes wrote that petrochemicals accounted for 75% of the group’s revenue.

"Nizhnekamskneftekhim"

This petrochemical plant was founded in 1967. TAIF now owns 77.8% of the shares of PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim. The group increased its stake at the beginning of 2017 by purchasing a stake of 24.9% of voting shares from PJSC Tatneft. At the beginning of last year, these shares were put up for privatization by the government of Tatarstan. Tatneft, having bought a stake a year ago for 19 billion rubles, received more than 32 billion rubles for them at the beginning of 2017.

NKNKh positions itself as one of the largest petrochemical companies in Europe, which occupies a leading position in the production of synthetic rubbers and plastics in Russia. The range of products includes more than a hundred items: synthetic rubbers, plastics (polystyrene, polypropylene and polyethylene), as well as raw materials for rubbers and plastics (monomers and other petrochemical products).

Last year the growth rate industrial production amounted to 2%. The plant produced more than 670 thousand tons of rubbers and 725 thousand tons of plastics. More than 88% of the produced rubbers were shipped to the foreign market. In 2016, the 10 millionth ton of isoprene rubber and the 3 millionth ton of butyl rubber were produced.

In 2016, the company increased its revenue from 150.6 billion rubles. up to 153.4 billion rubles. Its structure includes more than 151 billion rubles. accounted for the sale of manufactured products, the balance - for the sale of goods and services. RUB 80.4 billion revenue came from the Russian Federation, 73 billion - from “other countries”.

Net profit decreased from 26.5 billion rubles. up to 25.1 billion rubles. According to forecasts, NKNK will accumulate negative financial results due to the construction of an ethylene complex. With its launch, by 2026 Nizhnekamskneftekhim will be able to produce almost 2 million tons of ethylene. The project cost is estimated at $7.8 billion.

Due to the implementation of the new ethylene complex project, shareholders will remain without dividends until at least 2020. In 2015, more than 7.9 billion rubles were allocated for payments to shareholders: 6.99 billion rubles were paid for ordinary shares, holders of preferred shares received 950.39 million rubles.

Advice directors of PJSC Nizhnekamskneftekhim recommended annual meeting shareholders to refuse payments for 2016. The refusal to pay dividends on shares for 2016 did not come as a surprise. Back in the summer, the top management of the enterprise, part of the TAIF group, warned about the prospect of their reduction to minimum level. Starting from 2020, NKNK promised to allocate at least 30% of net profit to payments to shareholders.

TAIF-NK

TAIF established a branch in Nizhnekamsk in 1997. TAIF-NK began to engage in the design and construction of an oil refining complex. The first project was the modernization of the primary oil refining plant ELOU AVT-7. Gasoline plants were put into operation in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, a bitumen unit, a jet fuel preparation and storage unit, a heavy catalytic cracking gas oil loading unit, and a desulfurization unit for propane-propylene fraction, butane-butylene fraction and light gasoline were launched.

In 2008, the TAIF-NK company acquired control over the loading terminals of the port of Kavkaz and began to develop its own network of gas stations under the brand of the same name as the complex. There are already 20 TAIF-NK gas stations operating on the territory of the Republic of Tatarstan. In March 2017, information appeared that the holding intends to rebrand Tatnefteproduct gas stations, of which there are 147 operating in the region. It is possible that all of them will begin to operate under the TAIF-NK brand.

Since 2013, construction of a complex for deep processing of heavy oil residues has been underway. It was planned to be commissioned by the end of 2016, but in early November a fire occurred during commissioning work. Because of this, the launch of the complex was postponed to 2017, and the fire incident is being investigated by Rostechnadzor.

On March 21, at the board meeting of the Volga region department of the supervisory agency, the holding’s general director Ruslan Gizatullin announced that TAIF intends to allocate 54 billion rubles to the safety of its enterprises by 2025. Long-term industrial safety programs have been developed for companies. The volume of the program for TAIF-NK, according to him, is 300 million rubles. For another enterprise of the group - the Kazanorgsintez plant - the amount of financing for these purposes will be about 15 billion rubles.

PJSC Kazanorgsintez

Kazanorgsintez positions itself as one of the largest manufacturing and exporting enterprises in the Russian chemical complex. According to information on the official website, the plant annually produces 1.6 million tons of 170 types of products. Kazanorgsintez accounts for 38% of polyethylene production in the Russian Federation.

According to reports for 2016, the volume of products produced was about 988 thousand tons. Kazanorgsintez has supplied its products to more than 1,000 enterprises in 27 countries around the world. The cost of products sold exceeded 48 billion rubles, which is 11.2% more than a year earlier.

Kazanorgsintez's revenue amounted to 75.41 billion rubles, net profit - 18.17 billion rubles. Compared to 2015, the first indicator increased by 12%, the second decreased - in 2015, net profit was at the level of 19.3 billion rubles. The company explains this by rising costs. The revenue structure includes RUB 74.8 billion. accounts for the sale of products and only 599.5 million rubles. - for services. Most of the products are worth more than 62 billion rubles. – was implemented on the territory of Russia. Revenue from sales abroad amounted to 13.4 billion rubles, exports increased by 6.7% compared to 2015.

On March 1, 2017, the general director of Kazanorgsintez, Farid Minigulov, complained that the enterprise had difficulties with raw materials, in particular with ethylene. According to him, suppliers do not have time to complete the modernization of their production facilities on time. As an example, he named the Orenburg Organic Synthesis Plant.

At the beginning of April, at a meeting of the board of directors following the results of last year, the head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov said that he was currently preparing new program development of the enterprise until 2025. By 2020, Kazanorgsintez will have to produce at least 1 million tons of ethylene and polymers per year, and revenue should increase to 100 billion rubles.

OJSC "TGC-16"

The complex of the generating company "TGK-16" includes Kazan CHPP-3 and Nizhnekamsk CHPP (PTK-1). Their main task is to supply energy to large industrial units of the petrochemical complex of the Republic of Tatarstan and residential neighborhoods in Kazan and Nizhnekamsk. The installed electrical capacity of the generating facilities of OJSC "TGC-16" is 1264 MW. CHPP-3, launched in 1968, is currently being modernized. The contract in 2014 was won by General Electric's subsidiary, LLC G&RUS, and became a partner Turkish company GAMA.

The amount of the contract with GI RUS amounted to 9.2 billion rubles. Even during the period of cooling of relations between Russia and Turkey, Turkish workers continued to work at TAIF sites. The launch of the new unit was announced for March 2017, but commissioning work is still ongoing.

Expert opinion

Deputy director of the analytical department of the investment company Alpari, Natalya Milchakova, in an interview with Oil and Capital, noted that the TAIF holding is one of the main, if not the most important, among the industrial groups of Tatarstan. Its importance for the regional economy is very great, primarily because it conducts its main activities in the field of oil refining, petrochemicals and energy, which are the most significant industries for the regional economy. Despite the fact that the holding itself in terms of revenue (about $9 billion per year) is not the largest on a federal scale, its structure includes such significant players in the petrochemical and oil refining industry as Nizhnekamskneftekhim, TAIF-NK Refinery and Kazanorgsintez "

“For the Russian petrochemical industry, Nizhnekamskneftekhim is one of the leading enterprises, although it is not the largest in Russia in terms of revenue, market capitalization and size of assets. The TAIF holding provides a unified production chain (for example, the oil refining capacities of the holding produce raw materials for Nizhnekamskneftekhim, etc.). All large industrial enterprises, members of TAIF, make a significant contribution to the economy of the cities where they are located,” Milchakova said.

TAIF does not dominate, but is noticeable at the federal level, says Alexey Kalachev, expert analyst at FINAM JSC. Data for 2016 is not yet available, but at the end of 2015, the consolidated revenue of the TAIF Group amounted to over 524 billion rubles, which is quite significant for the economy of Tatarstan.

Kalachev noted that the Nizhnekamskneftekhim holding company, controlled by the holding, occupies a leading position in the production of synthetic rubbers and plastics, is among the top 10 global producers of synthetic rubbers, is the world's largest producer of polyisoprene (43% of the world market) and is among the world's three leading companies in the production of butyl and halobutyl rubbers.

Kazanorgsintez, also part of the group, produces more than 38% of all Russian polyethylene and is its largest exporter. TAIF-NK accounted for about 3% of all-Russian oil refining in 2016, Kalachev believes.

“The most significant are the project for the implementation of a deep oil refining complex at the TAIF-NK refinery and the construction of the Ethylene complex. If these projects are implemented, the revenue of the TAIF Group, according to forecasts of the holding’s management, may increase to 1.2 trillion rubles. by 2025,” Milchakova said.

According to her, TAIF is not a public company, therefore, unlike public companies, has no obligation to disclose information. However, the holding’s management, unlike many other non-public companies, shares forecasts and informs the media about future projects, therefore, of all closed companies, TAIF is one of the least closed, Milchakova noted. With regard to organizations controlled by the holding, whose shares are listed on the stock exchange, it is incorrect to talk about closure, since all enterprises disclose information at least in accordance with Russian legislation.

“TAIF is a non-public company that does not seek to disclose all information about itself. All beneficiaries of the holding and its structure are still unknown share capital does not fully open. According to some information leaked to the press, 19.5% of the shares belong to two sons of the previous president of Tatarstan. In the SPARK-Interfax database you can find that 11.97% of the shares of TAIF PSC belong to Radik Mintimerovich Shaimiev, but the full composition of shareholders is also unknown. In the business world, such personal connections with the now former leadership of the republic are not usually disclosed to the general public. Apparently, this is the reason for the company’s closure,” Kalachev said.

Nikita Ishmuratov

While private business in Russia was being transferred under the wing of the state, the Kazan TAIF group went the other way

Mikhail Kozyrev

[...] Private business Is Russia withering away under the pressure of the state? It depends on how private it is. Meet the TAIF Group, with annual revenue of 292 billion rubles, occupying second place in the ranking of the largest non-public companies in Russia in terms of Forbes version. The group is one of the pillars of the economy of Tatarstan. It includes two giant chemical plants, the only oil refinery in the republic, a network of gas stations, commercial real estate in Kazan, several TV channels. TAIF accounts for every fifth ruble of Tatarstan’s GRP. The turnover of its enterprises has doubled over the past three years. And here’s one more detail: one of the largest shareholders and a member of the board of directors of TAIF is Radik Shaimiev, the son of the President of Tatarstan.

According to the official version, investment company TAIF was created on the basis of the Kazan foreign trade association, established by the city executive committee of the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. There was a time of total shortage, and the Union authorities allowed the leadership of cities with a population of over a million to switch to partial self-sufficiency in consumer goods, creating authorized foreign trade structures. The first transactions of the Kazan association were not striking in scale: forty containers of cigarettes, 15,000 tons of sugar, 14 containers of children's clothing from China, recalls Albert Shigabutdinov [head and co-owner of the TAIF group, owns 20%].

Shigabutdinov made a quick career as a supplier back in the USSR. Having gained organizational skills in the construction teams of the Kazan Aviation Institute and having worked at the department, he left for the position of deputy director for supply and construction of one of the state farms: he had to feed the family that had already appeared. After a couple of years, I had to change jobs - during an inspection, a shortage of 36,000 rubles was revealed. “The money issued for workwear had to be spent on vodka for machine operators,” explains the head of TAIF. The shortfall was covered, but he quit. At the next place, in Kazan Raipishchetorg, an unpleasant story also happened with a shortage. Shigabutdinov changed jobs again. Perestroika found him in the position of deputy director for supplies of the republican division of the USSR Ministry of Fisheries.

“Albert is a clever country guy, in the late 1980s he was quite famous: he could get anything - from “boiled” jeans to paint,” says Irek Murtazin, press secretary of Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev in 1999-2002. In Kazan, Shigabutdinov was able to truly develop his skills. In addition to food and cigarettes, he began importing office equipment, computers, and furniture. But really major transactions went when Shigabutdinov’s structure was integrated into barter chains between the largest enterprises of Tatarstan - KamAZ, Nizhnekamskshina and Tatneft.

This is how many people did business in the early 1990s. However, on the territory of Tatarstan, which adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty, there were special rules. The agreement on the division of powers between Russia and Tatarstan gave almost all industry into the ownership of the republic (with the exception of the military-industrial complex and some objects of natural monopolies). Oil company "Tatneft", energy company "Tatenergo", chemical plants- all these giants, which formed the backbone of the republican economy, found themselves at the disposal of the local authorities. “And she simultaneously acted as legal entity, which directly owns key enterprises, and in the role of the ruling clan, which has privatized the economy in its own interests,” says director of the regional studies department of the Center for Political Technologies, political scientist Rostislav Turovsky.

“Privatization began in 1994. We (the team that worked in the Kazan association - Forbes) by that time had authority in the republic. We were asked to help,” recalls Shigabutdinov. On April 11, 1995, the Tatarstan government created the investment company Tatar-American Investments and Finance (TAIF), which was tasked with preparing the privatization of the republic’s largest enterprises. "Tatar-American" - because $10 million in authorized capital TAIF was contributed by the New York company NKS Trading. Behind it, according to Shigabutdinov, were Kazan’s trading partners from among Soviet emigrants. A small part of TAIF shares was given to Kazan managers, 36% was received by NKS Trading, and controlling interest taken by the government of Tatarstan. In return, it transferred to the new structure for management small (5-10%) stakes in key republican enterprises - Tatneft, Kazanorgsintez, Nizhnekamskshina, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, etc.

[...] By 1998, TAIF had its own corporate [cellular] network of the AMPS standard with 5,000 numbers - some of them were sold to third-party subscribers who paid $5 per minute of conversation that seems unthinkable today. This brought serious income, and by 2000, having invested about $80 million, TAIF created a nationwide network cellular communications. In 2003, after the investments paid off, TAIF-Telcom was sold to MTS for $120 million.

True, at the time of this transaction, the controlling stake in the mobile operator TAIF PSC no longer belonged. The owner of 51% of the shares of TAIF-Telcom was NIRA-Export LLC. Nothing connected this company with TAIF, but it is connected with the leadership of Tatarstan in the most direct way: among its co-owners are the sons of the President of Tatarstan Radik and Airat Shaimiev.

[...] Sports hobbies did not prevent the son of the president of the republic [Radik Shaimiev] from having a reputation as a serious businessman in Kazan by the time TAIF was created, says Murtazin. He worked as the general director of NIRA-export. Many in the republic believe that the “ra” in the name of this company is “Radik”, and the “ni” is “Nikola”, the son of the Austrian businessman Stanislav Koprivitsa, a friend of Mintimer Shaimiev. Since 1992, NIRA has exported oil and petroleum products from Tatarstan - up to 2 million tons per year; in the prices of those years, this volume can be estimated at approximately $300-400 million.

Only in 2006, in the TAIF investment memorandum, the brothers Airat and Radik Shaimiev were named not only as managers, but also as co-owners of NIRA-export LLC. This company then owned about 19% of TAIF PSC, and Radik Shaimiev owned another 5% of TAIF directly. Now, according to TAIF's audited reporting, Radik Shaimiev controls 11.5% of the group's shares.

The “mystery of birth” of TAIF has not been revealed in official documents. Who was behind the American NKS Trading, which acted as a partner of the Tatarstan government in creating TAIF? Shigabutdinov insists: entrepreneurs from the USA, whose shares were later bought out by the current shareholders of TAIF. “I have repeatedly heard the version that NKS Trading was founded by Radik Mintimerovich and “invested” oil money pumped through NIRA-export into TAIF,” Murtazin objects. Radik Shaimiev refused to answer questions from Forbes. It is only known that from the date of official registration of TAIF in 1996 to the present day, Radik Shaimiev has been listed as its chief adviser to the general director, and in the late 1990s he headed the board of directors.

It is now reliably known that TAIF is connected with the presidential family, but 10 years ago there were only rumors about it. TAIF gave every reason for rumors. In 1996, the group undertook to build the largest in the city opposite the Kazan Kremlin Entertainment Center"Pyramid". The authorities of the republic supported the initiative. The construction was financed as follows: TAIF was allowed to export 1 million tons of oil from the republic (half for export, half to other constituent entities of the Federation). Oil was shipped by Tatneft at a fixed price. At the same time, oil workers received bills of exchange, not real money. TAIF was exempt from all taxes in the part that goes to the regional budget. Construction was carried out using the generated income. When Pyramid was put into operation in 2002, Shigabutdinov said that investments in the project amounted to $40 million. The construction of Pyramid using money from the export of republican oil coincided with big changes in the fate of TAIF. If in the 1990s the controlling stake in the group was owned by the republic, then by 2002 it completely came under the control of private owners.

[...] In 2001, Mintimer Shaimiev won his third presidential election. Within a year after the elections, the Ministry of Land and Property Relations of Tatarstan was replaced in the register of TAIF shareholders by three companies controlled by the Shaimiev, Shigabutdinov and Sulteev families (Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAIF Rustem Sulteev has been working with Albert Shigabutdinov since the days of Kazan). The company does not disclose what the transaction amount was and what assets TAIF owned at the time of its privatization. Albert Shigabutdinov only says that financial position The company was shaky after the 1998 crisis. The fact is that one of TAIF’s largest projects in the 1990s was participation in the construction of an oil refinery in Neftekamsk. While implementing its part of the project, TAIF got into debt. The total amount of debt exceeded $500 million, the company was actually bankrupt. Then the government of the republic decided to withdraw from the shareholders. This is all that Albert Shigabutdinov tells about the circumstances of the privatization of TAIF.

Having turned from state company in private, TAIF did not slow down the rate of asset growth. The next acquisition was the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery. Back in 1997, the republican authorities decided to reconstruct this enterprise so that it could produce high-octane gasoline. A complex scheme was built: the plant transferred equipment to TAIF that was subject to modernization, TAIF received oil from Tatneft, processed it on rented equipment into straight-run gasoline and sold it to the plant itself. It was assumed that reconstruction would be carried out with the proceeds. The reconstruction actually took place, but at the same time the plant was heavily in debt to TAIF. A series of proceedings followed arbitration courts, the point at which Mintimer Shaimiev put it: in June 2005, the Security Council of Tatarstan decided to transfer the entire production complex of the plant to TAIF.

“The Republican Security Council decided to transfer the plant to a private company controlled by the president’s son!” - Irek Murtazin is indignant. TAIF invested about $1.8 billion in the construction of the refinery, says Albert Shigabutdinov. Be that as it may, TAIF gained control over one of the largest enterprises in the republic with annual revenue of $3.5 billion.

Now petrochemistry is a key area of ​​TAIF's activity; it brings the company about 75% of revenue. In addition to the Nizhnekamsk Refinery, the group includes two more petrochemical giants - Kazanorgsintez and Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Albert Shigabutdinov claims that the shares of these enterprises were purchased “from the market,” but refuses to say how much their acquisition cost.

In addition to petrochemicals, TAIF is involved in construction; the group owns a network of several dozen gas stations and two television companies. We have our own bank and customs broker. But TAIF never left the republic. “I started to coordinate obtaining a license in Russia, but I saw this... I need to drop everything and do this,” says Shigabutdinov about the attempt to develop cellular communications outside the republic. Outside of Tatarstan, TAIF faced an aggressive environment where companies with equally powerful administrative resources operated.

For a decade and a half, the key enterprises of one of the richest Russian regions, carefully protected by local authorities from outside businessmen, ended up being owned by a company whose sphere of interests is strictly limited to the borders of the republic and which belongs to several influential local families, including the family of the president of the republic himself. “Corrupt merging of interests between the leadership of the republic and the leadership of TAIF!” - Irek Murtazin is indignant. [...]

Oil Chronicle

1989. Mintimer Shaimiev holds the position of first secretary of the regional committee of the CPSU of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Since then he has been the head of the republic forever.

1990. Tatarstan declared state sovereignty. VTNPO "Kazan" was created

1994. Boris Yeltsin and Mintimer Shaimiev signed an agreement on the division of powers and jurisdiction Russian Federation and the Republic of Tatarstan. Almost all large property was transferred to the disposal of the republican authorities.

1995. The Russian government begins to get rid of large raw materials enterprises: Sibneft, Yukos and Norilsk Nickel are privatized at loans-for-shares auctions. Tatarstan goes its own way: the restoration of the Kul Sharif mosque, a symbol of resistance to Moscow, begins, and the investment company TAIF is created to manage state property. .

1996. The Russian government sold 25% of Svyazinvest to Vladimir Potanin and George Soros. The government of Tatarstan has decided to build the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery. TAIF began construction of the Pyramid entertainment center.

2001. Despite the beginning of building Putin’s “vertical of power”, Mintimer Shaimiev wins the presidential elections in Tatarstan for the third time. The government of Tatarstan is selling its 50.01% stake in TAIF to private shareholders. The price and other parameters of the deal are still unknown.

2003. The state begins to take control oil industry: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head and co-owner, arrested oil company YUKOS. TAIF established control over the Kazanorgsintez plant, one of the largest enterprises in the republic.

2006. Rosneft conducts a “people's IPO”. That same year, TAIF issued bonds and disclosed its owners. Radik and Airat Shaimievs turned out to be the official owners of 24% of TAIF. The families of Albert Shigabutdinov and Rustem Sulteev each own approximately 20% of the shares. A year earlier, Vladimir Putin extended the powers of Mintimer Shaimiev.

2009. There is a contender for one of TAIF’s key assets in Moscow: VTB Bank demands that Kazanorgsintez’s debts be converted into a share of the plant. There is talk on the market that the bank is acting in the interests of Gazprom.

— Tell us about your most significant projects.

— Kazanorgsintez (KOS) completes the first stage of modernization and begins the second stage, which will increase sales commercial products up to 120 billion rubles in year. This will require $3.5 billion, another $5 billion is planned to be invested in Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNK), which will allow it to increase the output of marketable products to 160 billion rubles. per year (55 billion rubles in 2007 - Vedomosti), TAIF-NK is working to increase the depth of oil refining to 99%. The cost of the TAIF-NK program is estimated at $2.5 billion. In the field of petrochemicals and oil refining, by 2015 we should reach more than 420 billion rubles. commercial products per year.

IN social sphere We plan to invest $500 million in the construction of a cultural and recreational complex near Kazan on the banks of the Volga. The project provides for the possibility of holding various world-class conferences in the new complex.

There is also a project to create a modern town with new houses, private schools and sports facilities in the KOS area.

- For what? After all, the WWTP is located within the city.

— The KOS development program involves high-tech production. It should employ highly paid employees who need to be provided with comfortable living and social conditions. Now there is not enough housing. Gazprom and AFK Sistema are expected to participate in this project. The fact is that development for Sistema is one of its core areas, and Gazprom has many enterprises in the North, and a significant number of employees retire before they reach the age of 50. It costs a lot more to build houses there, so it would be more profitable for Gazprom to move them here. The project is under development. The total investment in projects for the development of social infrastructure and industrial logistics is estimated at $2 billion.

— How does TAIF intend to develop other business segments?

— Another project is the development of the TNV television company. The President [Mintimer Shaimiev] set the task of making it a federal-scale television company. TNV will operate around the clock, according to satellite television it can be watched all over the world. Part of the broadcast is in the Tatar language, and already there are a lot of people who want to watch it. I myself was surprised when I found out how many people understood Tatar.

- This profitable project?

— Investments in this project are estimated at $300 million. Now TNV is not a loss-making project, but its content is fully used government services on mass communications. You can't expect much profit in this format. But if you increase the volume of broadcasting, advertising and create your own licensed films, then income will increase.

— You chose an additional issue of its shares as one of the ways to finance the investment program of NKNK, but it was blocked Federal service on financial markets (FSFM). Have you managed to lift this ban yet?

— NKNKH has been suing over this issue for the second year. In my opinion, the legislation in this area is interpreted very ambiguously. Initially, the FFMS protest was caused by the fact that we intended to place new KOS shares among shareholders at market prices. The service did not register the additional issue, saying that we want to dilute the shares of minority shareholders. When we decided to issue NKNK at par, the Federal Financial Markets Service blocked this decision as well. We need clarity on this issue. Without solving it, it is impossible to develop a program in a timely manner strategic development V on a global scale, especially at an accelerated pace. Our experts believe that both options are legal.

We rush through the empty streets of Saturday Kazan like the wind. A shiny black Mercedes S-Class dashes through turns, the traffic cops just turn around: registration numbers limousines command their respect. Rocking on the back sofa made of beige leather and looking at the houses flying past through dully tinted windows, I remember a Soviet joke: “I don’t know who’s in the car, but Brezhnev himself is driving it!” IN in this case behind the wheel is one of the richest residents of Tatarstan, the head and co-owner of the TAIF group, the largest private company in the republic, Albert Shigabutdinov. The customs in Kazan are complex, and it’s difficult for a stranger to figure it out at first: on the one hand, a co-owner of a company valued at billions of dollars can’t live without a black Mercedes, on the other hand, it is considered right to behave as modestly as possible, so on weekends Shigabutdinov lets the driver go and gets behind the wheel myself.

Is private business in Russia withering away under state pressure? It depends on how private it is. Meet the TAIF Group, with annual revenue of 292 billion rubles, occupying second place in the ranking of the largest non-public companies in Russia according to Forbes. The group is one of the pillars of the economy of Tatarstan. It includes two giant chemical plants, the only oil refinery in the republic, a network of gas stations, commercial real estate in Kazan, and several television channels. TAIF accounts for every fifth ruble of Tatarstan’s GRP. The turnover of its enterprises has doubled over the past three years. And here’s one more detail: one of the largest shareholders and a member of the board of directors of TAIF is Radik Shaimiev, the son of the President of Tatarstan.

According to the official version, the TAIF investment company was created on the basis of the Kazan foreign trade association, established by the city executive committee of the capital of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990. There was a time of total shortage, and the Union authorities allowed the leadership of cities with a population of over a million to switch to partial self-sufficiency in consumer goods, creating authorized foreign trade structures. The first transactions of the Kazan association were not striking in scale: forty containers of cigarettes, 15,000 tons of sugar, 14 containers of children's clothing from China, recalls Albert Shigabutdinov.

Shigabutdinov made a quick career as a supplier back in the USSR. Having gained organizational skills in the construction teams of the Kazan Aviation Institute and having worked at the department, he left for the position of deputy director for supply and construction of one of the state farms: he had to feed the family that had already appeared. After a couple of years, I had to change jobs - during an inspection, a shortage of 36,000 rubles was revealed. “The money issued for workwear had to be spent on vodka for machine operators,” explains the head of TAIF. The shortfall was covered, but he quit. At the next place, in Kazan Raipishchetorg, an unpleasant story also happened with a shortage. Shigabutdinov changed jobs again. Perestroika found him in the position of deputy director for supplies of the republican division of the USSR Ministry of Fisheries.

“Albert is a clever country guy, in the late 1980s he was quite famous: he could get anything - from “boiled” jeans to paint,” says Irek Murtazin, press secretary of Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev in 1999–2002. In Kazan, Shigabutdinov was able to truly develop his skills. In addition to food and cigarettes, he began importing office equipment, computers, and furniture. And the really big deals began when Shigabutdinov’s structure was integrated into barter chains between the largest enterprises of Tatarstan - KamAZ, Nizhnekamskshina and Tatneft.

This is how many people did business in the early 1990s. However, special rules were in effect on the territory of Tatarstan, which adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty. The agreement on the division of powers between Russia and Tatarstan gave almost all industry into the ownership of the republic (with the exception of the military-industrial complex and some objects of natural monopolies). The oil company Tatneft, the energy company Tatenergo, chemical enterprises - all these giants that formed the backbone of the republican economy were at the disposal of the local authorities. “And it acted simultaneously as a legal entity that directly owns key enterprises, and as a ruling clan that privatized the economy in its own interests,” says Rostislav Turovsky, director of the regional studies department of the Center for Political Technologies, political scientist.

“Privatization began in 1994. We (the team that worked in the Kazan association - Forbes) by that time had authority in the republic. We were asked to help,” recalls Shigabutdinov. On April 11, 1995, the Tatarstan government created the investment company Tatar-American Investments and Finance (TAIF), which was tasked with preparing the privatization of the republic’s largest enterprises. “Tatar-American” - because the New York company NKS Trading contributed $10 million to the authorized capital of TAIF. Behind it, according to Shigabutdinov, were Kazan’s trading partners from among Soviet emigrants. A small part of TAIF shares was given to the managers of Kazan, 36% was received by NKS Trading, and the government of Tatarstan took the controlling stake. In return, it transferred to the new structure for management small (5-10%) stakes in key republican enterprises - Tatneft, Kazanorgsintez, Nizhnekamskshina, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, etc.

The newly created structure began to earn money in several directions at once. TAIF-invest, a member of the group, received a brokerage license and began operations on stock exchanges, at the same time the group established the first registrar and depository company in the republic. “We needed to promote the shares of our enterprises so that they would become liquid,” explains Shigabutdinov. TAIF continued to act as an intermediary in the processing and export of products of republican enterprises, and organized commodity loans for the village. Profit from transactions on stock market and trading operations was invested in large investment projects on the territory of the republic - in particular, in the creation of a local cellular operator. By 1998, TAIF had its own corporate network AMPS standard for 5,000 numbers - some of them were sold to third-party subscribers who paid $5 per minute of conversation that seems unthinkable today. This brought serious income, and by 2000, having invested about $80 million, TAIF created a nationwide cellular communication network. In 2003, after the investments paid off, TAIF-Telcom was sold to MTS for $120 million.

True, at the time of this transaction, the controlling stake in the mobile operator TAIF PSC no longer belonged. The owner of 51% of the shares of TAIF-Telcom was NIRA-Export LLC. Nothing connected this company with TAIF, but it is connected with the leadership of Tatarstan in the most direct way: among its co-owners are the sons of the President of Tatarstan Radik and Airat Shaimiev.

“Smart, reasonable, tough. Not a head, but a computer,” says Irek Murtazin about Radik Shaimiev. Now Murtazin is in disgrace, and until 2003, as the press secretary of the President of Tatarstan, he was privy to all the secrets of the local elite. Thrown from the republican Olympus with a scandal, Murtazin immediately began to furiously denounce the existing order in the republic. The conflict between yesterday's apparatchik and the all-powerful head of Tatarstan reached its peak a year ago, when Murtazin announced Shaimiev's death on his blog. The President of the Republic filed a libel suit against his former press secretary, and later added “incitement of social hatred.” You can't expect Murtazin to treat the president's family well, but he talks about Radik with some respect. For example, he says that at the age of 18 he himself came to the military registration and enlistment office to be drafted, although his father, then the first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, would have easily provided him with an exemption from military service. Having served in the special forces, Radik and now, at 44 years old, have a good command of hand-to-hand combat techniques, plus he and his brother were involved in motorsports at a professional level. In 2003, Radik Shaimiev’s crew won the European Autocross Championship, and on one of the tracks in the Czech Republic there is a loop called the “Shaimievs’ turn” - both brothers “turned over” there in different years.

Sports hobbies did not prevent the son of the president of the republic from having a reputation as a serious businessman in Kazan by the time TAIF was created, says Murtazin. He worked as the general director of NIRA-export. Many in the republic believe that the “ra” in the name of this company is “Radik”, and the “ni” is “Nikola”, the son of the Austrian businessman Stanislav Koprivitsa, a friend of Mintimer Shaimiev. Since 1992, NIRA has exported oil and petroleum products from Tatarstan - up to 2 million tons per year; in the prices of those years, this volume can be estimated at approximately $300–400 million.

Only in 2006, in the TAIF investment memorandum, the brothers Airat and Radik Shaimiev were named not only as managers, but also as co-owners of NIRA-export LLC. This company then owned about 19% of TAIF PSC, and Radik Shaimiev owned another 5% of TAIF directly. Now, according to TAIF's audited reporting, Radik Shaimiev controls 11.5% of the group's shares.

The “mystery of birth” of TAIF has not been revealed in official documents. Who was behind the American NKS Trading, which acted as a partner of the Tatarstan government in creating TAIF? Shigabutdinov insists: entrepreneurs from the USA, whose shares were later bought out by the current shareholders of TAIF. “I have repeatedly heard the version that NKS Trading was founded by Radik Mintimerovich and “invested” oil money pumped through NIRA-export into TAIF,” Murtazin objects. Radik Shaimiev refused to answer questions from Forbes. It is only known that from the date of official registration of TAIF in 1996 to the present day, Radik Shaimiev has been listed as its chief adviser to the general director, and in the late 1990s he headed the board of directors.

It is now reliably known that TAIF is connected with the presidential family, but 10 years ago there were only rumors about it. TAIF gave every reason for rumors. In 1996, the group undertook to build the largest entertainment center in the city, “Pyramid,” opposite the Kazan Kremlin. The authorities of the republic supported the initiative. The construction was financed as follows: TAIF was allowed to export 1 million tons of oil from the republic (half for export, half to other constituent entities of the Federation). Oil was shipped by Tatneft at a fixed price. At the same time, oil workers received bills of exchange, not real money. TAIF was exempt from all taxes in the part that goes to the regional budget. Construction was carried out using the generated income. When Pyramid was put into operation in 2002, Shigabutdinov said that investments in the project amounted to $40 million. The construction of Pyramid using money from the export of republican oil coincided with big changes in the fate of TAIF. If in the 1990s the controlling stake in the group was owned by the republic, then by 2002 it completely came under the control of private owners.

“Vladimir Putin comes to power, a power vertical is created, and [the authorities of Tatarstan] have to adapt to new conditions,” Rostislav Turovsky from the Center for Political Technologies explains the logic of events. In 2001, Mintimer Shaimiev won his third presidential election. Within a year after the elections, the Ministry of Land and Property Relations of Tatarstan was replaced in the register of TAIF shareholders by three companies controlled by the Shaimiev, Shigabutdinov and Sulteev families (Chairman of the Board of Directors of TAIF Rustem Sulteev has been working with Albert Shigabutdinov since the days of Kazan). The company does not disclose what the transaction amount was and what assets TAIF owned at the time of its privatization. Albert Shigabutdinov only says that the company's financial position after the 1998 crisis was precarious. The fact is that one of TAIF’s largest projects in the 1990s was participation in the construction of an oil refinery in Neftekamsk. While implementing its part of the project, TAIF got into debt. The total amount of debt exceeded $500 million, the company was actually bankrupt. Then the government of the republic decided to withdraw from the shareholders. This is all that Albert Shigabutdinov tells about the circumstances of the privatization of TAIF.

Having transformed from a state company to a private one, TAIF did not slow down the rate of asset expansion. The next acquisition was the Nizhnekamsk oil refinery. Back in 1997, the republican authorities decided to reconstruct this enterprise so that it could produce high-octane gasoline. A complex scheme was built: the plant transferred equipment to TAIF that was subject to modernization, TAIF received oil from Tatneft, processed it on rented equipment into straight-run gasoline and sold it to the plant itself. It was assumed that reconstruction would be carried out with the proceeds. The reconstruction actually took place, but at the same time the plant was heavily in debt to TAIF. A series of proceedings followed in arbitration courts, which was reached by Mintimer Shaimiev: in June 2005, the Security Council of Tatarstan decided to transfer the entire production complex of the plant to TAIF.

“The Republican Security Council decided to transfer the plant to a private company controlled by the president’s son!” - Irek Murtazin is indignant. TAIF invested about $1.8 billion in the construction of the refinery, says Albert Shigabutdinov. Be that as it may, TAIF gained control over one of the largest enterprises in the republic with annual revenue of $3.5 billion.

Now petrochemistry is a key area of ​​TAIF's activity; it brings the company about 75% of revenue. In addition to the Nizhnekamsk Refinery, the group includes two more petrochemical giants - Kazanorgsintez and Nizhnekamskneftekhim. Albert Shigabutdinov claims that the shares of these enterprises were purchased “from the market,” but refuses to say how much their acquisition cost.

In addition to petrochemicals, TAIF is involved in construction; the group owns a network of several dozen gas stations and two television companies. We have our own bank and customs broker. But TAIF never left the republic. “I started to coordinate obtaining a license in Russia, but I saw this... I need to drop everything and do this,” says Shigabutdinov about the attempt to develop cellular communications outside the republic. Outside of Tatarstan, TAIF faced an aggressive environment where companies with equally powerful administrative resources operated.

For a decade and a half, the key enterprises of one of the richest Russian regions, carefully protected by local authorities from outside businessmen, ended up being owned by a company whose sphere of interests is strictly limited to the borders of the republic and which belongs to several influential local families, including the family of the president of the republic himself. “Corrupt merging of interests between the leadership of the republic and the leadership of TAIF!” - Irek Murtazin is indignant. The “special path” bore fruit - a significant part of the income earned by the regional oil and petrochemical industries was invested here. “Fencing” sometimes helps,” says Natalya Zubarevich, director of the regional program of the Independent Institute social policy. TAIF Group really invests a lot in enterprises of the republic - after all, this is its own enterprises. For example, Kazanorgsintez, over the five years that it has been under the control of TAIF, has increased revenue from $400 million to $940 million, and not only due to successful market conditions: TAIF launched several large-scale projects at the enterprise to modernize and increase capacity. Other enterprises of the group developed at a similar pace.

The volume of industrial production in Tatarstan at the end of 2008 amounted to 128% of the 1990 level. This is one of the best indicators among all regions of the country. In the Russian Federation as a whole, this figure was only 90%. The rapid pace of development of Tatarstan could be explained by the presence in the republic, unlike many other subjects of the Federation, of developed oil production and chemical industry, whose products are successfully exported. However, the neighboring Samara region also has oil and its processing capacity. However, in 2008, industrial production reached only 105.2% of the 1990 level.

However, the period of prosperity did not last forever. TAIF’s “economic miracle” was based on massive borrowing. The result is a high debt load of the group. For example, Kazanorgsintez has a debt/revenue ratio of 1.4. The average for Russian petrochemical enterprises is 0.6. By the beginning of the crisis, the group's total debt reached 60 billion rubles. “In the case of Kazanorgsintez, they were faced with the fact that some capacities are ready, some have not been launched, and the market has fallen,” says Promsvyazbank analyst Dmitry Monastyrshin.

In May, Kazanorgsintez defaulted on some of its obligations. TAIF had to hire investment bank Morgan Stanley to develop terms for restructuring its debts. Western banks They agreed to the proposed conditions, but the Russian ones - VTB and Sberbank - demanded to convert the debt into a share in the capital of the plant. “VTB is the instigator of all these cases! Why not take advantage of the situation and take the plant?” - Shigabutdinov is indignant. According to him, he is not against selling Kazanorgsintez (after all, TAIF is an investment company), but only to someone who undertakes to fulfill the planned investment program, according to which 116 billion rubles should be invested in the plant by 2016. The program was presented during the visit of Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov to the plant by Mintimer Shaimiev himself, so this obligation looks like an obligation not of the group, but of the president of the republic himself. “If the president sees that there are no guarantees for the implementation of the program, he will live out his life! He'll hang you alive!" - says Shigabutdinov.

How long will the company enjoy high patronage? “Mintimer Shaimiev has already received one extension of his powers, but not two. It seems like he’s leaving next year,” says Rostislav Turovsky. When asked by Forbes whether TAIF faces “dekulakization” after the change of power in the republic, Albert Shigabutdinov confidently answers: “There will be no change of power. There may be a change in the leadership of the government. But the economic and political foundations will remain.”

Albert Shigabutdinov (CEO)

Chemistry, petrochemistry, oil refining

▲ RUB 434 billion (2011, IFRS)

▲ RUB 67.3 billion

▲ RUB 42.5 billion (2011, IFRS)

Over 45 thousand

TAIF Group of Companies (GC "TAIF") is a large Russian holding that controls 96% of the chemical, petrochemical and oil and gas refining industries of Tatarstan. The company's headquarters are located in Kazan.

Owners and management

11.4% of the company belongs to the son of the former President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaimiev, Radik Shaimiev, 4.5% - to Deputy General Director of TAIF Guzelia Safina, the remaining shareholders are not disclosed.

CEO- Albert Kashafovich Shigabutdinov.

Activity

The Group controls the following large enterprises, collectively providing more than 90% of the output of the chemical, petrochemical and oil and gas refining industries of Tatarstan:

Group structure

In addition, TAIF controls Avers Bank, Tatnefteprodukt company, a number of construction organizations, two television and radio companies, nine financial and eight trading companies. She also owns a 3% stake in the oil company Tatneft.

The holding is the general sponsor of the Rubin football club.

Performance indicators

The total number of personnel is over 45 thousand people. The company's revenue in 2007 according to IFRS amounted to 192.1 billion rubles. (including from activities in the field of chemistry, petrochemicals and gas processing - 170 billion rubles), EBITDA - 35 billion rubles, net profit - 21.3 billion rubles.

The company's consolidated revenue for 2009, according to its own data, amounted to 257 billion rubles, profit - 19 billion rubles. According to Forbes magazine estimates for 2012, TAIF is the largest non-public company in Russia.

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An excerpt characterizing TAIF

On August 31, Saturday, in the Rostov house everything seemed to be turned upside down. All the doors were opened, all the furniture was taken out or rearranged, mirrors, paintings were removed. There were chests in the rooms, hay, wrapping paper and ropes lying around. The men and servants carrying out things walked with heavy steps along the parquet floor. Men's carts were crowded in the yard, some already topped and hitched, some still empty.
The voices and footsteps of the huge servants and the men who arrived with carts sounded, calling to each other, in the yard and in the house. The Count went somewhere in the morning. The Countess, who had a headache from the bustle and noise, lay in the new sofa with vinegar bandages on her head. Petya was not at home (he went to see a comrade with whom he intended to transfer from the militia to the active army). Sonya was present in the hall during the installation of crystal and porcelain. Natasha was sitting in her ruined room on the floor, between scattered dresses, ribbons, scarves, and, motionless looking at the floor, holding in her hands an old ball gown, the same (already old in fashion) dress that she wore for the first time at the St. Petersburg ball.
Natasha was ashamed to do nothing in the house, while everyone was so busy, and several times in the morning she tried to get down to business; but her soul was not in this business; but she could not and did not know how to do anything not with all her heart, not with all her strength. She stood over Sonya while laying out the china, wanted to help, but immediately gave up and went to her room to pack her things. At first she was amused by the fact that she was distributing her dresses and ribbons to the maids, but then, when the rest still had to be put to bed, she found it boring.
- Dunyasha, will you put me to bed, my dear? Yes? Yes?
And when Dunyasha willingly promised to do everything for her, Natasha sat down on the floor, took the old ball gown in her hands and thought not at all about what should occupy her now. Natasha was brought out of her reverie by the talk of the girls in the neighboring maid's room and the sounds of their hasty steps from the maid's room to the back porch. Natasha stood up and looked out the window. A huge train of wounded stopped in the street.
Girls, footmen, housekeeper, nanny, cook, coachmen, postilions, kitchen boys stood at the gate, looking at the wounded.
Natasha, throwing a white handkerchief over her hair and holding the ends with both hands, went out into the street.
The former housekeeper, the old woman Mavra Kuzminishna, separated herself from the crowd standing at the gate, and, going up to a cart on which there was a matting wagon, talked to a young pale officer lying in this cart. Natasha moved a few steps and timidly stopped, continuing to hold her handkerchief and listening to what the housekeeper was saying.
- Well, then you don’t have anyone in Moscow? – said Mavra Kuzminishna. - You would be more comfortable somewhere in the apartment... If only you could come to us. The gentlemen are leaving.
“I don’t know if they’ll allow it,” the officer said in a weak voice. “There’s the chief... ask,” and he pointed to the fat major, who was walking back down the street along a row of carts.
Natasha looked into the face of the wounded officer with frightened eyes and immediately went to meet the major.
– Can the wounded stay in our house? – she asked.
The major put his hand to the visor with a smile.
- Whom do you want, mamzel? He said, narrowing his eyes and smiling.
Natasha calmly repeated her question, and her face and whole manner, despite the fact that she continued to hold her handkerchief by the ends, were so serious that the major stopped smiling and, at first thinking, as if asking himself to what extent this was possible, answered her in the affirmative.